Nesarian Civil War
Nesarian Civil War See also: Civil War Figures and Civil War Battles The Nesarian Civil War was fought from 1830 to 1840 between the Imperial Government of the Nesarian Empire (or the "Loyalists") and anti-monarchist rebels (or the "Republicans") as well as many factions of separatist rebels seeking independence from the Empire. The war, which claimed between 10 and 12 million lives, is widely considered to be amongst the most devastating conflicts ever fought in the Nesarian Empire, and it is amongst the most destructive civil wars in history, both in absolute and proportional terms. It was the most devastating war relative to the population in European history since the Thirty Years War, and its death toll exceeded the Napoleonic Wars that came just a few decades before. The Civil War was also the last time a Nesarian monarch would lead troops into battle himself, with Emperor Jacras I leading the Loyalist forces at the Battle of Scirae in 1834 and the Battle of Kizog in 1836. The Empire would not expand at all after the Civil War until the Greco-Turkish War when the Empire temporarily made significant territorial gains before being dismantled following WW1. The separatist and nationalist sentiment caused by the various separatist rebellions during the Civil War caused two more civil wars, the Estemorian Uprising and the Persian Uprising - however these were much smaller in scale, particularly the former, which was more of an internal civil war in Estemoria than a full uprising. The most decisive battle of the war was the Battle of Karotaga in 1840, fought over a hill on the vast Estemorian steppe. The large Republican force was almost entirely killed or routed, and several prominent generals were captured or killed. The Republicans, although not utterly defeated, realised that achieving victory after such a devastating blow (following two years of constant defeat) was impossible, and surrendered. Other major battles include the Battle of Al-Assan in 1834 and the Battle of Sathoko in 1838. The Battle of Scirae in 1834 and Battle of Kizog in 1836 are also notable because Emperor Jacras I commanded the Loyalist forces in them. The Nesarian Civil War is the most studied war in history classes across the Empire (studied more thoroughly than either world war or the War of Independence), and it is also a fairly popular historical topic in classrooms across the globe, especially in Greece. In the Empire the historical significance of the war is the driving factor, but in other countries it is studied mainly because it makes for good essay questions. Casualties The casualties in the Nesarian Civil War were staggering compared to the space of time they happened in. Battles raged almost constantly, with few known days without conflict happening somewhere, however the majority of casualties were not from combat but were due to attrition, with approximately half of military casualties not coming from direct combat. Logistics for the Republicans was never excellent, and Loyalist logistics fell apart within the first year of the war, meaning that armies had to live off the land for most of their food, and within a few years most of the land had been depleted. This led to famine, especially in Estemoria, which starved not only soldiers but civilians, which - combined with the disease that naturally comes from hundreds of thousands of soldiers moving about and thousands more displaced refugees - caused many millions of civilian casualties. Doctors quickly became a scarce resource, meaning the wounds and illnesses of soldiers and civilians alike more often than not went untreated. The sheer scale and brutality of the devastation left a permanent mark on the Imperial national consciousness, similar to but even more striking than what happened with the Time of Troubles. Tens of millions of people directly witnessed the horror of war, and enthusiasm for the Empire's relentless imperalism collapsed, leading to a period of stagnation that lasted until WW1. However, support for the monarchy grew to become extremely high and remained that way ever since, due to the fact that even to this day, when most Imperial people hear "republican" they also think of the millions dead and countless more physically and emotionally scarred. Causes and Origins The long-term causes of the civil war revolve around the Enlightenment ideals of humanism, individualism and liberalism spreading to the Empire and a steady build-up of resentment against the undemocratic rule of the Emperors, and particularly how recent Emperors (especially Jacras I) had been bending the rules a great deal to act as essentially absolute rulers. Many were also growing disillusioned with the Empire's relentless imperialism, seeing world unification under one realm not only as impossible but not worth the extreme financial and human cost. The main short-term cause is usually cited as the Great Russo-Nesarian War. Although this was a resounding success, and served to greatly weaken and humiliate a long-standing rival, many were unsatisfied with the outcome. Many thought that the Siberian lands east of the Urals was nowhere close to a worthy reward for the massive cost and human suffering of the war, and that even in raw material terms these lands would end up being a money-sink - which, as it turned out, they were, as even when discounting the cost of the war, in the long term the Empire never made a profit from these lands. To pay for the war and for the integration of such a vast new conquest, taxes were raised on the middle and upper classes, which proportionally hit the middle class harder. All this led to a series of petitions and protests, mainly from the middle class, gentry and lower nobility which eventually culminated in the leading group of Republican politicians, officers and intellectuals formally establishing the Republic and declaring war on the Emperor on the 18th of August 1830. Although most revisionist historians sympathetic to the Republican cause attempt to frame it as a revolution of an oppressed lower body against the Imperial Government, this is simply not the case. The opponents of the Imperial Government were primarily educated middle and upper class people, although they did find significant support amongst the urban poor. However, the supporters of the Imperial Government were primarily the richest and most privileged - namely, the higher aristocracy - and the rural peasants, who were (and still are) the most conservative segments of society, and the rural peasants made up the majority of the Empire's population. Typically, urbanites supported the Republican cause more strongly than rural folk, with some notable exceptions. Namely, these were the cities of Elavita, the Western cities of Indissia and Indaqqa, and the Nesarian cities of Cortath, Eshér and Zathol, all of which were strongly Loyalist for various cultural, political and economic reasons. Loyalists and Republicans The Loyalists were generally conservatives and monarchists, however the Republicans held a wide variety of ideologies and beliefs - the only thing they all agreed on was that the Emperor must be overthrown, egged on by the French Revolution. Socialists, communists, anarchists, liberals, libertarians and classical republicans were all counted amongst the ranks of the Republicans, as well as many other ideologies. This sometimes resulted in clashes between Republican factions, although there was no actual blood drawn between them. The Nesarian Civil War was at its root an ideological war. Although separatists used the confusion to try and declare independence, the Loyalist-Republican conflict was motivated by ideology alone, with no obvious national divides. It was also a cultural war, as in broad terms it pitted traditional beliefs and romantic ideals (the Loyalists) against modern humanism and enlightenment ideals (the Republicans). Some religious groups tended towards particular sides, although each group also had members in Separatist factions. Orthodox and Catholic Christians, Muslims and Zoroastrians all tended towards the Loyalist side, whereas Protestant Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Kashitites all tended towards the Republican side. Equipment It is generally agreed that while the Loyalists throughout the war had far more resources of every kind at their disposal, the Republicans made more intelligent and efficient use of their resources to keep up with the behemoth of the Imperial government. This is most obvious in each side's use of new military technologies. Despite a few exceptions of forward-thinking commanders, particularly when it came to cavalry such as the Western Rangers, the Loyalists stuck by the old military doctrine and primarily used muzzle-loading flintlock or caplock weapons (using both more or less equally) with traditional formations and tactics. The Republicans, on the other hand, almost entirely used caplock weapons, making greater use of breech-loaders, and had a far more flexible military doctrine. While this did pose some problems when commanders joined forces as they often had conflicting ideas, independent commanders were routinely able to outwit the Loyalists, who were often predictable in their actions. While the more modern equipment was more costly for the Republicans, they certainly got the full value for money out of it, and while they had essentially no official international support, they had a great deal of private supporters around the world who provided huge sums of money. The identities of these supporters is still unclear today, but it came from exceptionally wealthy organisations and families who supported enlightenment ideals. Of course, the Loyalists were able to produce far more of their weapons due both to the lower cost of their inferior weapons and the far larger scale of Loyalist production, particularly when it came to ammunition. Training While the Republicans were often superior in the quality of their equipment and tactics, they were undoubtedly inferior in the quality of their soldiers. While a great many Republican officers had defected from the Imperial Army and carried over their knowledge with them, the officers who actually knew enough to put it to good use were few and far between, and beyond the fairly small number of initial defectors the Republicans had to build an army from scratch. The Loyalists, on the other hand, already had many well-trained veterans at their disposal, and they had the means to give both more training and better training to their soldiers. Although the quality of troops on both sides degraded in the latter stages of the war as both increasingly had to rely on new recruits as the old veterans were killed or wounded, the Loyalists still generally maintained a higher standard of soldier. Failure of Republicans to gain support It is often difficult for foreigners, especially Westerners, to understand why the Republicans did not have overwhelming support, when in fact it is estimated over half the general population was Loyalist. Firstly, the ideals of the Republicans did not really appeal to the population of the Empire. They promised liberty, freedom and democracy to the people - however, these promises were either redundant or not wanted. Although they did have some restricted freedoms compared to the more liberal democratic states, the monarchy was certainly not oppressive or tyrannical, and its constitution already guaranteed basic rights for all citizens. After witnessing the horror of the French Revolution, many (particularly the middle and upper classes) felt safer with the stability of the ancient monarchy rather than the untested republic, especially in Nesaria, where the old memory of the corrupt and incompetent Republic of Nesaria still held strong. There was also a cultural aspect to the Republicans that many disliked - in an age where nationalism was growing increasingly important, most Imperial citizens - especially Nesarians - saw the monarchy as a crucial part of their culture and to replace it with a republic was destroying part of their heritage. The Republicans also advocated for progressive, enlightenment ideals, whereas the Loyalists advocated a more traditionalist, romanticist view. With some exceptions, the overwhelming majority of the Empire's population have always been keen on tradition and as such were suspicious of the Enlightenment. Romanticism had always had a stronger hold on the whole Empire. The Republicans were also notorious for using dirty tactics (although war crimes were common on all sides), with stories of them killing prisoners, murdering civilians believed to have monarchist loyalties at random, destroying priceless ancient artifacts and ruins, and desecrating temples. It was this more than politics that made most of the population fear the Republicans rather than support them. The Loyalists did commit many of these crimes themselves, but they were almost always perceived to be as retribution for Republican offences. Magical Resurgence and Elvish Troubles During the Civil War, there was a resurgence in magic amongst the Elves, with approximately 20% of the High Elves finding that they were able to use active magic, and almost all of them finding that they were able to use passive magic. The Avamorian Elves were struck by a similar occurrence, but to a much lesser degree, as were those few remaining Eshérian Elves. The magical Elves began frantically reading the old works written about magic that they had kept since ancient times, and the local government of Elavita soon had approximately 15,000 battle-mages at the ready. This frightened Emperor Jacras and the Imperial Government, who feared that the Elves would use their newfound power to declare independence. Indeed, many Elves began to call for exactly this course of action, and the King of Elavita - King Ayemae Iivitas - became torn between loyalty to the Emperor and to his country. The Imperial Government attempted to suppress knowledge of magic by enacting a law in 1832 that allowed them to sieze all the books about magic and shut down the recently re-opened Mage's College. This turned the whole country, including the King, against Emperor Jacras, and the Imperial officials sent to carry out the orders were imprisoned. Not wanting to bow down to an Emperor who abused the Elves in such a manner, but also not wanting to go to war with the Empire (which would endanger his country and help the Republicans, whom he hated), King Ayemae did not declare independence, but a somewhat confusing state of "non-dependence", whereby Elavita became de facto independent but did not formally renounce its membership of the Empire. Some of the High Elves disagreed with this and left to join the Imperial Government, and others thought it was not far enough, leaving to join the Republicans to fight against the Loyalists, even though few of them actually agreed with Republican ideas. A great many Elves took advantage of their newfound magical ability and created mercenary companies of mages, selling their services to the highest bidder, resulting in companies of battle-mages on virtually every side of the war. A coalition of mercenary companies came together in 1835 to try and conquer a new country out of western Avamoria, and sought recognition from the Emperor, but they received no such recognition and were eventually defeated in late 1837, their leaders being executed. When the Republican leadership surrendered in 1840, Emperor Jacras himself went to Elavita to receive the surrender of King Ayemae. Ayemae re-submitted to the Emperor on the condition that there would not be any further restriction of magical teaching, and he agreed to pay a fine out of his own personal estate. Nobody had any idea why magic had returned, and nobody also had any idea why it promptly vanished again in the 1850s. Resurgence of the Inquisition The Imperial Inquisition greatly expanded in scale during the Civil War, and in its need to quickly recruit many Inquisitors to deal with the new wave of traitors, heretics, criminals and corrupt officials the Inquisition opened its doors to women. However, as magic came back into the world, so did its darker side; Lycanthropy and the Affliction began to plague the population once again, but worse than that was the re-activation of portals to the Dreadlands, through which many demons and monstrous unnatural things passed through into this world. The Dara Morca, the order of the Inquisition responsible for protecting the innocent from the supernatural, was quickly restored, and many Inquisitors made a name for themselves and acquired an almost legendary status in the service of the Dara Morca. Public opinion of the Inquisition shifted somewhat as a result. While the Republicans and other rebels generally dreaded the Inquisition, even they had a great deal of respect for those working in the Dara Morca, and amongst the Loyalists and common folk the Inquisition became an object of admiration rather than terror, being subsequently deeply romanticised in many works of art.